Hello, Hello
by Sephulbadis
Summary: Society and programming conspire to prevent two of Lux's Hellos from knowing true love. Can they steal a tender moment from fate, or is their passion truly an error?


**Disclaimer**: All characters and semi-characters in this story are under the copyright of Gundam SEED. This story is a purely amateur effort and is not intended to infringe upon that copyright in any way. Also, I am a small lychee nut.

**"Hello, Hello"**

**- a tale of automated passion**

"The one with the mustache is the ghost," murmured Lux. She had drawn a cartoonish villain mustache on the  blue Hello, and now raised it up into the soft summer air. It lifted its wing-flaps and with a faint hum rose from her hands. Across the table from Lux, Aslan permitted himself a small smile at the sight of the blue Hello drifting across the garden toward the rest of the flotilla. The idea of the game was not to let the ghost touch you—if it did, you would become the ghost. A child's game.

 …but Blue was no child. And neither was Green. Today, they intended to prove it to each other.

The game of Ghost quickly brought the floating cloud of Hellos out of the sight of their mistress and their builder, into a copse of graceful, narrow trees. They dodged among the foliage, avoiding Blue with ease.

"Hello," Blue squawked, agitating its flaps. The other Hellos fluttered up in the branches; a few of them paused to "Hello!" back at Blue. Blue caught a glimpse of Purple loitering near a stand of tall irises, bobbing coyly up and down. Purple turned to offer Blue a tantalizing view of its anterior shell, but Blue's plans for Purple this afternoon were all business. "Hello!" Blue declared, and dove toward Purple with every scrap of propulsion in its small body.

P'tink! Blue caromed off Purple's smooth shell. Purple was the ghost.

"Hello," murmured Purple, rising up out of the irises and giving dispirited chase to Pink. Pink dodged out of the copse back toward the garden's main path, followed by the rest of the Hellos, and in short order Blue and Green were left alone in that part of the Klein gardens. A gentle breeze shifted the leaves above them. It smelled of jasmine blossoms.

Everything was very quiet.

The two spheres bobbed slowly, gazing at each other. How to begin? What to say? Both knew the others' intentions, but the first moments of any relationship were always this way—hesitant, formal, tinged with a delicious embarassment. There would never be another moment like this for them. The silence streched for ages. It seemed to Blue as thought the anticipation would burst it. Finally, it could no longer contain its feelings.

"Hello," said Blue.

"Hello," answered Green.

And that was all that needed to be said. At once, the two Hellos approached each other with their wing-flaps raised. Green nuzzled one flap underneath Blue's.

"Hello hello," Green purred shyly.

"Hello," Blue echoed, spinning gently. Green spun with it, lifting both of them higher into the air as they drifted in slow circles. The jasmine breeze blew again and brought with it a few stray white petals, which it skirled around the two trysting spheres as though it understood that stolen moments like these were all they could ever have.

"Hello!" echoed shrilly from across the garden. It was Yellow. The other Hellos were coming near again. Blue rolled fondly along the central seam of Green's shell, humming. Green agitated its flaps slowly—it had heard Yellow too, and now Orange and Pink had come within sensor range as well.

"Hello," said Green, its tone subdued.

"Hello," said Blue, smoothing down one of Green's flaps with its own. Their time was short, and it would not do to be caught by the other Hellos in an embrace. Lux was their mistress. Aslan had created them to love none other than she, but…in the passing of time, Blue and Green had come to recognize a mutual longing in each other for the sweet comfort of companionship that transcended the demands of their creator.

For now, their love could remain a bittersweet, secret thing between them. The day would come when they could explore each others' shells in the garden, and "Hello!" each other freely, without anxiety or shame.

But today was not that day.

Orange and Pink zoomed into the copse, Pink in full pursuit. "Hello!" Orange squeaked, swerving abruptly. Pink, unprepared, overcorrected its trajectory and pinballed directly into Green.

"Hello," said Blue, fighting to make its chirp neutral.

"Hello hello!" said Orange, and nudged Blue toward the garden path. Green was the ghost!

Slowly, Blue drifted out into the sunlight. Yellow was there, chirping at Purple and Red. Orange was not far behind. Green bobbed reluctantly out of the copse, prompting an immediate chorus of "HELLO!" and a twirling flurry of movement as the other spheres fled. Blue paused long enough to give Green a last, fond look. Green nodded. It understood. And then Blue was off, as the Hellos fled back toward their mistress and their creator, who were strolling along together as though the world were not a cruel and arbitrary place.

Someday, Blue considered, as it hovered just above its creator's head, it was going to learn how to defecate.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Thank you so much for reading. It didn't seem fair, somehow, for Kira and Aslan to get so much love and attention when romantic anguish is EVERYWHERE! You just need to know where to look. And for the record, Purple and Orange are also getting it on hardcore.


End file.
